Vertebra plana. Long-term follow-up in five patients

Five patients with vertebra plana were followed for twelve to thirty years after the diagnosis had been made. Histiocytosis X had been the presumptive diagnosis in all five patients. Their ages at diagnosis ranged from four to twelve years and at follow-up, from nineteen to forty years. When they were last seen, none of the patients complained of symptoms related to the original disease, and the radiographs showed reconstitution of the vertebral height equivalent to 48 to 95 per cent of normal, with no sign of osteoarthritis. The best radiographic results occurred in the two youngest patients, who had involvement of the first lumbar vertebra, whereas the patient who was oldest at follow-up, with vertebra plana in the ninth thoracic vertebra, had the worst result. The four patients with just vertebra plana were treated with a plaster jacket and a brace, whereas the one with multicentric skeletal involvement had chemotherapy as well as orthopaedic treatment.